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Original poster

Words and phrases that you like and wish you'd hear more often (light hearted)

167 replies

ShockingBritain · 05/05/2026 09:42

Any phrases people would like hear more often?

After reading thread about phrases that give people 'rage'.

OP posts:
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CaroleSP · 12/05/2026 22:04

Giddy kippering- used when DH starts making me laugh just before I go to sleep "stop giddy kippering me I won't sleep!"
Too slow to carry hats at their own funeral - as said by my very strange ex-MIL. Still no idea what it means 25 years after my divorce.....
Love the word snicket from my childhood in Yorkshire - means a cut through or alleyway.
Also a vote for it's blowing a hoolie out there.
I used to work with a junior doctor from Greece and she got me to teach her a word or phrase a day so she learnt colloquial English. It was a great way to use some really obscure phrases.

JenniferandJuniper · 12/05/2026 18:03

My grandmother would say 'dash' , meaning a little annoyed if for instance she dropped a knitting stitch.

Blithering idiot

Its all gobbledegook

CeliaCanth · 12/05/2026 17:21

“Wreck of the Hesperus” - ideal when you’re looking a little windswept, bedraggled or generally unkempt

“Ye Gods and little fishes” - a good all-purpose expression of surprise

Doing something “like the clappers” or “nineteen to the dozen”

endash · 12/05/2026 17:06

I love a bit of flapper slang - 'I hear Trevor is an awfully bad hat!' or 'I adore Clarissa but Dolly is an absolute pill.'

MarxistMags · 12/05/2026 16:52

Cat's fur. Ever seen it on a dog ?

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 12/05/2026 16:40

I liked that the youngest of The Flumps (70’s kids’ TV programme) was called Pootle. So cute!

raspberrieswithchocolate · 12/05/2026 14:11

I like the word 'pootling', it makes me smile

WhatcakeshalIbaketoday · 11/05/2026 22:22

Oh hell’s bells! Oh hard cheese and poppycock.

My cockney gran was familiar with the saying “cor blimey, it’s cold enough for a walking stick innit. “

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 11/05/2026 22:02

Flibbertigibbet
Floozie!

WhatWouldDianeLockhartDo · 11/05/2026 21:57

IHeartJonathanBailey · 05/05/2026 15:14

Higgledy-piggledy

I use this a lot. Brings me joy. Along with Willy-nilly.

SurleyTurnip · 11/05/2026 21:42

By Jove

EsmeSusanOgg · 11/05/2026 21:37

user1471522044 · 11/05/2026 20:50

Somerset & especially Bristol area when exiting the bus and thanking the driver people often say " Cheers drive"
Also more Somerset but when something has gone well using the expression " That,s the badger"

South Wales present and correct.

EsmeSusanOgg · 11/05/2026 21:36

dailyconniptions · 11/05/2026 19:15

Gramophone, surely.

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You tell that to bloody autocorrect. It's enough of a mission getting it to accept -ise and the existence of -ou-

user1471522044 · 11/05/2026 20:50

Somerset & especially Bristol area when exiting the bus and thanking the driver people often say " Cheers drive"
Also more Somerset but when something has gone well using the expression " That,s the badger"

ParkMumForever · 11/05/2026 20:39

My 3 year old has taken to saying she’s fancy and I love it! Sometimes it’s just wearing her favourite cat pants🙂

TheLivelyAzureHedgehog · 11/05/2026 20:33

My friend says ‘stop the bus!’ every time I say something that surprises her 😂 it always makes me laugh.

TroysMammy · 11/05/2026 20:32

I love hullabaloo and kerfuffle but I don't seem to be able to slot them into conversation.

I do like some fripperies you can get in B&M.

Notellinganyone · 11/05/2026 20:30

NotAnotherScarf · 09/05/2026 22:18

Blidge as a exclamation of surprise. Also gert/gurt as a filler word as in gert big, gurt lush...all west country words

This reminds me of school when it was all the rage to put gurt in front of a word and ‘ness’ after it. So, I’m going to gurt Biology ness. My poor friend who was prone to blushing said in response to a friend’s query about which lesson we had next, ‘ It’s gurt PE ness.’ She never lived it down,

Notellinganyone · 11/05/2026 20:26

MatildaTheCat · 05/05/2026 09:52

I love the old fashioned phrases that were commonly used years ago. A bit of how’s your father etc. I make a point of using some of them and am certain that the younger demographic have no idea what I’m on about.

Me too and I’m a secondary school English teacher so I feel it’s public service to use phrases like, ‘she is the cat’s mother’, two shakes of a lamb’s tail etc

yousillygoose · 11/05/2026 20:21

Whippersnapper! My dad used to call us this when we were kids. I heard someone say it to their grandchild the other day, not heard it in years..made me smile

maftan · 11/05/2026 20:00

InterestedDad37 · 07/05/2026 00:41

Janey Mac - quite a Dublin thing 👍
My siblings and I use it too, and nobody else knows why we say it 🤣

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My Dublin granny said it this way -

Janey Mac
Me shirt is black
And won't get washed till Monday.

If we were misbehaving we were "very bold", and she often called me a "ginnet" for the same reason as I was very stubborn child. I only recently found out that a ginnet is a mule 😊

BethBynnag86 · 11/05/2026 19:39

Well,I'll go to the bottom of our stairs!😁
(used to describe shock or surprise)

Dontcallmescarface · 11/05/2026 19:31

"Wazzock". It means idiot " he's a wazzock, him". My dad used to call people that in his very broad Somerset accent.

NamelessNancy · 11/05/2026 19:25

You make a better door than a window.
Were you born in a barn?
I also know the cabbage one as not as green as cabbage-looking.
Love them and must use more.

Tryingtokeepgoing · 11/05/2026 19:19

dailyconniptions · 11/05/2026 19:15

Gramophone, surely.

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Wasn’t the grammar phone a pre-internet telephone line that one could ring for the correct grammar in any situation? A bit like calling the speaking clock for the correct time ;)